[00] Welcome!

[Belle Hibiki]

Long before the crack of dawn, hours before even a hint of a rosy hue would peek at the edges of the horizon, Belle Hibiki awoke from his light sleep with a start.

He lay for a few minutes, groaning and turning in his bed, before finally mustering up the will to haul himself out from between the sheets and throw on a fresh change of clothes. Heading to the bathroom, he groggily brushed his teeth and flushed some cold water into his hair. He eyed himself in the mirror hanging on the wall. Sayana probably used it more than he ever would. Stupid kid was almost obsessed with her appearance.

He noticed that his hair was lying a little flat. He shook his fingers through, locks of hair sticking wildly around in an untidy mess.

There, that was better.

Heading out onto the deck, Belle stretched and began his early morning exercises. He'd had considerably more free time now that Cog had finally gotten around to installing an engine on the Maiden's Dream. Without the need to pedal the ship everywhere, Belle could finally concentrate on his training.

He started out by stretching and getting his muscles warmed up, then moved on to basic sit-ups and push-ups. He was still just getting back into his usual rhythm, so he decided to start with a modest two sets of two-hundred reps each.

From there he moved to leg presses. Back against the aft castle, he shoved a large, heavy crate of spare parts that Cog had thrown together across the deck, then he used a length of steel cable looped around it to pull the box back.

Hopping up after his hundredth press, Belle latched onto one of the cable nettings that helped secure their zeppelin's two halves together. He knew there were better way of building up his muscles than just what he could scrounge together on board, but he just didn't have any of his usual tools.

He'd heard years ago about some fighters that used weighted training clothes to add additional stress to normal workouts, but he'd always thought of it as a dumb thing to do. Now he could see how it would be useful if you didn't have access to any boulders to lift or trees to chop. It might be worth looking into.

He was on his ninety-third pull-up when the door to the ship opened and a dark, squat shape emerged onto the deck.

Cog was an old man. His wide beard, scruffy and ill-tended to, was almost all white, save for a few peppers of gray. Deep lines had been worn into his face. His eyes, however, were alert as anyone Belle had ever seen, and despite his shabby clothes and less-than-perfect hygiene, he still managed to cut an impressive figure. "Up early or working late, Mister Hibiki?"

"That first one," Belle grunted, hauling himself up to touch his chin against the cable. He really didn't mind the old man, but he wasn't all that close to him either. Most of their talks, if he could call them that, centered around the only other living soul on board; and she was something that Belle tried not to think about as much as humanly possible.

For the most part the two of them left each other alone, which was why he was somewhat surprised when he looked down a few minutes later and saw the old man still standing in the same spot, looking up at him. "Was there something else," Belle breathed as he pulled himself up for the hundred and twentieth time, "you wanted to ask me?"

The old man's beard shifted back and forth as he rubbed his lips together. "I was just wondering if you knew how many people know where you are. Whether you're on my ship or not, I mean."

Belle frowned, but decided not to bother asking why. Cog would tell him, eventually. The old man always took a real roundabout way to get to any point. "No one. Well, aside from you guys. And I guess Master Long. And my friend, Alex."

"No one named Damon?"

"Nope," Belle grunted. He dropped to the deck and turned towards Cog, mopping his brow with his arm. "Don't think I know anyone named Damon."

Cog paused. Then, almost reluctantly it seemed, he reached inside his coat pocket and extracted a small, pale blue envelope and held it out. "I found this on the table this morning. I hope that you don't mind; I already opened it."

"Uh." Belle stared at the extended item before taking it carefully in his hands. "What is it? Weird... Paper?"

Cog pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's an envelope, Mister Hibiki. It's what people put mail in."

"Mail?" Belle frowned, then squinted at the small opening just under a flap in the back. "How do you get a guy to fit in there?"

"Mail, Belle. Mail. M - A - I - L. Paper, written letters."

"Oh! Well, you could have just said that, then," Belle scowled, then flipped open the flap at the back of the envelope and pulled out what looked like a small card from inside. Very neat, clean writing was printed on it, and there was some sort of gold imprint along each letter that Belle could feel with his fingers. Fancy stuff. There was just one small problem. "Uh," he looked at Cog, "I can't read."

Looking more defeated than Belle had ever seen him, Cog held out his hand for the card, then lifted the square of paper to his eyes, squinted slightly, and began to speak:

"Dear Mr. Hibiki -

You are hereby cordially invited to participate in this year's Dante's Abyss competition, sponsored by Syntex. Several thousand fighters from across the known universe are nominated for this prestigious honor every year, but only a handful are chosen to actually compete in the arena. Should you choose to accept our invitation, you, Mr. Hibiki, will square off against some of the strongest fighters in this life or the next.

The tournament will follow a strict set of rules, most of which you will learn upon your arrival. Syntex has asked us to make it clear that regardless of the result of your fights, we have worked tirelessly to ensure that nothing permanent will happen to our honored contestants.

If you accept, enclosed within this envelope is a special chip, which when taken to any nearby Capsule Corporation, will grant you free passage in a teleportation device to our planet of Dante. The finest amenities and provisions will be provided prior to the start of the event. We truly hope to have you as our most honored guest for this momentous occasion.

Sincerely yours, your Host,
Damon Dukes

Cog finished and looked up. "What do you think?"

Belle scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well, that... Sounds pretty awesome, I gotta admit."

"What?" Cog blinked. "Don't tell me you're seriously considering - ?"

"Well," Belle said slowly. "I don't know. I mean... This would be a really good time to try and collect the Dragonballs, I guess. With all those strong guys fighting, none of them will be going for the balls. On the other hand..."

Belle folded his hands behind his head and looked across the forest. A faint sliver of light peeked around the distant mountains. "Collecting them all won't mean a lot if someone stronger than me comes along and takes them from us."

"Are you thinking about those men you were talking about before? The ones in Central City?"

Belle nodded. Zephyr, Rock, Wave... And Blaze. "They were all hugely strong," he admitted. "If that Kaden guy hadn't been there, I'm not sure what would have happened." He clenched his fist in front of him. "I'm ... strong, I guess. But they were even stronger. And I bet there's plenty of people out there even better than they are. Going to this Dante's Abyss thing'll let me know where I stand."

"But what if something happens to you?" Cog worried. "You might not know what Dante's Abyss is, but I do, and so do a lot of people. It's not just a tournament - it's a bloody competition for survival."

"Aw, c'mon," Belle rolled his eyes. "They said right in the letter there that we weren't going to die, right? Nothing 'permanent'? It's been a long time since I've been able to fight without having to worry about my life being on the line. Heck - "

He turned and smiled, and Cog took a slow step back from him. "This actually sounds like it could be kinda fun."

~+~+~+~+~

Cog hadn't liked the idea. Sayana had liked it even less. It had taken the better part of half a day to convince her to stop complaining, and even then she had only done so after kicking Belle between the legs and saying 'Fine, I really don't care what you do!'

He really didn't understand why she was angry with him. It wasn't like she was going to be in any danger.

Deciding that it would be best to leave the Dragonballs with his 'partners' instead of hauling them along to some alien planet, Belle found himself with precious little cargo of his own. It consequently took almost no time at all to pass through all the checkpoints necessary before handing the little chip that had come with the envelope over to one of the teletube guards. The man checked it, handed it back, and cleared him for transport.

Belle had never used a teletube before, but he had been teleported around a couple times, and he quietly steeled himself against the trip.

He needn't have worried. As the world flashed before his eyes and he stumbled out the other end of the tube, his lunch remained solidly where it was. After taking a moment to rub his belly and make sure that there wasn't going to be a sudden revolt, Belle finally looked up.

"Whoa," he breathed. "This place is HUGE!"